New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) Delhi Health Minister Satyendar
Jain today filed two criminal defamation complaints in a city
court against sacked minister Kapil Mishra and a BJP MLA for
allegedly defaming him by levelling graft charges against him.

Jain accused BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa of defaming
him by organising a press conference and alleging that the
minister was indulging in circulating huge amounts of
illegitimate money within the party.

He also accused a media house bringing out a prominent
Hindi daily for publishing the alleged "libellous and
slanderous statements" made by Sirsa.

The complaints, filed in the Tis Hazari court, have been
listed for hearing on May 29 before Metropolitan Magistrate
Shefali Barnala Tandon.

If convicted, the offence of defamation entails a maximum
punishment of two years.

Jain in his complaint filed against Mishra, who was
earlier heading the water department, submitted that on May 7,
the sacked minister made a statement before the media accusing
him of handing over bribe of Rs two crore to Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal on May 5.

He said his family members and a lot of people from his
constituency questioned him about the incident which caused
irreparable damage to his reputation.

"The conduct is one of the many plots made by the accused
Mishra) so as to implicate the ministers of the current
government in scandalous accusations. The intention behind the
said planning and plotting is not only to harm the reputation
of the complainant (Jain) but also the other functionaries of
the government of Delhi.

"The accused has been involved in making baseless
statements against the current ministers of the government of
Delhi before the national media and is still continuing the
same," Jain alleged.

He said instead of approaching the law enforcement
agencies, Mishra contacted the media with the allegations.

"He (Mishra) knew that making the statements before the
media shall lead to its publication throughout the nation,
which shall be read by majority of the population. The accused
knew that the publication and reading of the same by a citizen
of this country shall create a discord with respect to the
state government which may help him to achieve his plan to
usurp the government and take its control," Jain claimed.

Regarding Sirsa, Jain said that on May 9, the MLA made
libellous statement by levelling corruption allegation against
him. He said that making a statement on hearsay information
without any proof or evidence and supporting it, is not only
unbecoming of an MLA, but also a crime of defaming a person.

"Take cognizance, issue summons, try and punish the
accused person and/or other unknown persons whose names may be
revealed during the investigation for the commission of
offences under Sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and
other relevant provisions of IPC," the plea said.